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Topic: This year marks the highest losses of honey bee populations in the U.S. (Read 10693 times)

**Don't know about y'all but I like my blueberries and blackberry cobbler.**

yes but from what i hear they grow those all over the place--almonds are only grown in a few places with success -I also hear the Chinese have devloped quite a taste for almonds but cant grow any :lol: RDY-B

.I have read that almond is the best productive plant as incomes /acre

.Lets hope that Chineses buy cultivation land from Africa and they hit almond prices down. :roll:

Finski.........

I do know almond do grow in North Africa when I was in the Peace Corps in Tunisia I did seen a few hundred hectares of almond trees growing.

RPCV 1983-85 Tunisia

BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

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"Tell me and I'll forget,show me and I may remember,involve me and I'll understand" Chinese Proverb

"The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways." John F. KennedyFranklin County Beekeepers Association MA. http://www.franklinmabeekeepers.org/

** California is miles ahead of any other region when it comes to almond production with around 82% of the total crop, followed by Spain with 8% and Australia at 3%. But while the Aussies only account for a small fraction of the world’s annual almond cultivation, they have the fastest-growing industry.**

did not find any data of africa -it is possible they consume all they produce and dont export 8-) RDY-B

Undoubtedly. I also question that 1/3 of all food must be pollinated by bees. Are we talking physical mass, physical weight, caloric value, monitary value? People like to spout the 1/3 of all food claims needing bees but are they simply parroting someone else?

Like something that comes to be common knowledge, without ever being verified? I know what you mean. I know that a ton of the foods I love most do need bee pollination.

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The pedigree of honey Does not concern the bee; A clover, any time, to him Is aristocracy. ---Emily Dickinson

Undoubtedly. I also question that 1/3 of all food must be pollinated by bees. Are we talking physical mass, physical weight, caloric value, monitary value? People like to spout the 1/3 of all food claims needing bees but are they simply parroting someone else?

If I were to assume the only pollinators are honey bees and if I were to assume that all honey bees were to die, I'm having trouble coming up with ANY significant food eaten by the masses which would no longer be pollinated.

For example, almonds are a crop, which if were no longer pollinated would be devastating to almond growers. However, how much of the diet of the obese masses do almonds play a part of? True, they may not get to eat their deep fried, sugar encrusted, almond snack while watching TV. But, if they couldn't get almonds, would they their bodies know it?

What am I missing here, what food would make a difference to the masses, if it was not pollinated?

How about most fruit and nuts? Both of which make up a significant amount of my family's diet, including almonds. Cucumbers (most), squash, melons, berries.

Then there's seed growing. I don't know if broccoli NEEDS bee pollination to become seed for next year's crop, but I know I see bees all over my broccoli and radishes that have gone to seed. As a vegetable farmer, I would love to know how many seed crops depend on pollination, even if the food version (like a head of broccoli) doesn't.

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The pedigree of honey Does not concern the bee; A clover, any time, to him Is aristocracy. ---Emily Dickinson

I spent a chunk of yesterday calling 15-20 bee companies across America, desperately trying to find packages. The ONLY place that still had them was in California, but it would cost me $120 just in shipping for 2 packages. Every person I talked to, I asked about availability and demand. They all said bee numbers were way down this year.

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The pedigree of honey Does not concern the bee; A clover, any time, to him Is aristocracy. ---Emily Dickinson

It is quite childish idea that food froduction of the world depends on honey bee. Of course that is one of the hypes we love, but it really has no base.

First: nothing is killig honey bees. There is no evidence for that.

Food production and honeybees are spead so widely that if somewhere happens something, it is only a piece of cake.

Common food is not depend on bees: wheat, rice, potato, corn, cucumbers .....

World is full of bugs which pollinate flowers.

When I looked in Malaysia fruit trees, coconuts and what ever, it is difficult to find honeybees. There are much pollinating bus like giant bumbblebees, solitary bees, and so on. In plant catalogue they say that it is honeybee which pollinate flowers.

For example it said that tomato needs bumbblebees. That is not true. The stem needs only saking that pollen drops from flowers.

It is quite childish idea that food froduction of the world depends on honey bee. Of course that is one of the hypes we love, but it really has no base.

First: nothing is killig honey bees. There is no evidence for that.

Food production and honeybees are spead so widely that if somewhere happens something, it is only a piece of cake.

Common food is not depend on bees: wheat, rice, potato, corn, cucumbers .....

World is full of bugs which pollinate flowers.

When I looked in Malaysia fruit trees, coconuts and what ever, it is difficult to find honeybees. There are much pollinating bus like giant bumbblebees, solitary bees, and so on. In plant catalogue they say that it is honeybee which pollinate flowers.

For example it said that tomato needs bumbblebees. That is not true. The stem needs only saking that pollen drops from flowers.

Actually scietists are crying more money to their projects. I have seen that too many times.

.

I realize there are many native bees pollinating crops--I see them on my fruit trees every spring. However, if ag production keeps up the way it is in many areas--very monoculture--we should also be worried about loss of native bees.

I saw very few natives when I first took back my 1 1/2 acres from conventional grain production. After a few years, I saw more and more and now I could depend on them to get the job done. I got into beekeeping because my first few years as a fruit and vegetable grower, I didn't see any pollination happening until my neighboring beekeeper got his hives back into the neighborhood.

I guess the 15-20 bee companies I just talked to yesterday are full of crap when they tell me there were large bee losses in America this past winter.

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The pedigree of honey Does not concern the bee; A clover, any time, to him Is aristocracy. ---Emily Dickinson

Yes, there we're losses. What were they actually and how do they compare to previous years? The losses are from what? It's easy to blame the whole monoculture, big Ag, and chemical companies though there's no proof. It could have been just as easily Vorroa, nosema, AFB, EFB, stress, starvation or any combination of any of these.

People numb up to these unsubstantiated claims so quickly when the sky doesn't fall as claimed. That's exactly why those boogie man claims gain no traction except by those who go on feelings and anecdotal evidence, not scientifically repeatable evidence and results. However, going with feelings and anecdotal evidence is exactly how lynch mobs develop.

.Like in Canada, beekeepers recommend to put 4 beehives to canola hectare. So to 50 hectares it oufgt to be 200 hives. Who idiot is going to put 200 hives to same canola field? And canola does not need bee pollination.

In Australia they say that if you want to maximise canola honey yield, put 1 hive / 2 hectares.

-My favorite is that: If you are a beekeeper, you need NOT to be stubid.

.Like in Canada, beekeepers recommend to put 4 beehives to canola hectare. So to 50 hectares it oufgt to be 200 hives. Who idiot is going to put 200 hives to same canola field? And canola does not need bee pollination.

In Australia they say that if you want to maximise canola honey yield, put 1 hive / 2 hectares.

-My favorite is that: If you are a beekeeper, you need NOT to be stubid.

.

**Australia presents the most striking dilemma for those isolating their attacks on neonics. On a per crop basis, it is one of the world’s heaviest users of the pesticide—and has among the healthiest bee colonies in the world. Government records indicate there has not been even one adverse experience report from either the public or beekeepers concerning the use of neonics. The other thing they don’t see in Australia—but we do see everywhere else in the world where CCD is claimed—is the Varroa mite, the culprit in the 2005/06 bee death march.**

.In Australia ministry and beekeeprs have noticed long time ago nutrition knowledge as a part og beekeeping.

They first sector in beekeeping is diseases, and the second nutrition.

They have found CCD-type dwingling in beehives if the yield plant is unifloral.

a manual on honey bee nutrition for beekeepers.

Like blueberry plantation, Australians have measured that blueberry is very poor plant as pollen and as nectar plan.

I have had hives on natural blueberry pastures many times and thera hives are starving. I have here hundreds hectares billberry around hives and bees get nothing from it except very wetty nectar. So you move hive to blueberry pollinating duty and what happens.

Bear claws would be pretty boring without almonds and I'm sure there are plenty of those "obese" peeps eating them. Just because the average Joe Six Pack eats out of a box doesn't mean we all do. Don't know about y'all but I like my blueberries and blackberry cobbler. Just Google "crops requiring pollinators" and several papers in PDF format pop up with all the facts and figures fer yer cypherin'

I'm glad no one suggested there'd be no tomatoes in pizza sauce. :-D

Yes, I know most people do eat some pollinated foods from time to time. And some people do enjoy some pollinated foods often. And there are many crops requiring pollinators. But what I'm asking here is about significant (in amounts) foods eaten by the masses rather than the few. Personally, my diet would be much reduced by loss of pollinated foods. But most people I know think I eat weird.

Sounds like fruits and nuts is what most here have suggested. What portions do those supply in most people's diets? I'm thinking they are at an insignificant level.

Now, if you are a honey bee seller, or a honey bee equipment seller, or a honey bee researcher, why not ride the wave of the hype? But do the ends justify the means? If some logic and reasoning is not applied, once the wave crashes, you may be left high and dry with little sympathy for another ride.

Now, if you are a honey bee seller, or a honey bee equipment seller, or a honey bee researcher, why not ride the wave of the hype? But do the ends justify the means? If some logic and reasoning is not applied, once the wave crashes, you may be left high and dry with little sympathy for another ride.

Thwack!!!... (That was the sound an arrow makes when it hits the target dead on.)